AAVIT contributed to the successful DIGITALEUROPE Summit in Prague

In recent days, Prague has become the centre of European digitalization. It hosted the two-day summit of Europe’s largest digital platform DIGITALEUROPE. The event was a meeting of its members in the form of representatives of industry and IT associations from all over Europe.

On the Czech side, the summit was sponsored and organised by the Association for Applied Research in IT (AAVIT), which is the first ever member of DIGITALEUROPE. Its representatives received the “members of the month” award for this activity and their contribution to the success of the event was strongly emphasized. DIGITALEUROPE also brings together major players from the business environment, namely the world’s leading technology giants such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and many others.

The venue for the summit was not chosen at random. The Czech Presidency of the EU Council is approaching, during which the preparation and approval of several major legislative acts at the European level will enter a hectic phase. These include, first and foremost, the European Chips Act, which aims to significantly increase chip production in the EU and stabilise supply chains, the European Data Act, which aims to strengthen data exchange across economic sectors, and the European AI Act, which aims to create a balanced legislative basis for the use of artificial intelligence. European cooperation in the cloud area or issues related to the digitalisation of healthcare were also discussed.

The Czech administration was represented by Petr Očko, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, who summarised the priorities of the Czech Presidency in the digital area and answered questions from the participants. It can be stated that DIGITALEUROPE representatives are optimistic about the intentions of the Czech administration.

Last but not least, the war in Ukraine and the ways in which the platform members can actively participate in material and other assistance to the Ukrainian side were thoroughly discussed. Various IT technologies play a crucial role in the defence of Ukraine, and associations from Central and Eastern European countries in particular are very active in this regard.

The Summit was preceded by an informal meeting between DIGITALEUROPE Director General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl and several leading Czech political and administrative officials. First, she discussed the issue of the National Recovery Plan and the creation of an appropriate legislative framework to ensure that companies are not unnecessarily regulated while respecting the protection of individual rights in the digital world with Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation Ivan Bartoš and Deputy Minister Oček. Subsequently, during her meeting with the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce Zdeněk Zajíček, she touched upon the issue of strengthening the IT sector, including the appropriate adjustment of the education system and support for the digitisation of enterprises. With the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Helena Langšádlová, she discussed research and development in IT, for example in the context of the use of the results of applied research for the purposes of the defence of Ukraine in the current conflict. This is both in terms of protecting critical infrastructure from cyber-attacks and combating disinformation, and directly in the conduct of military operations.